VERSE 1
All praise to Him, the God of light
Who formed the mountains by His might
All praise to Him Who names the stars
That sing His fame in skies afar
All praise to Him Who reigns in love
Who guides the galaxies above
Yet bends to hear our every prayer
With sovereign pow’r and tender care

VERSE 2
All praise to Him whose love is seen
In Christ the Son, the Servant King
Who left behind His glorious throne
To pay the ransom for His own
All praise to Him Who humbly came
To bear our sorrow, sin, and shame
Who lived to die, Who died to rise
The all-sufficient sacrifice

VERSE 3
All praise to Him whose pow’r imparts
The love of God within our hearts
The Spirit of all truth and peace
The fount of joy and holiness
To Father, Son, and Spirit now
Our souls we lift, our wills we bow
To You, the triune God, we raise
With loving hearts our song of praise

Based on the hymn, “All Praise to Him Who Built the Hills” by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889). Music and additional words by Matt Merker and Bob Kauflin.
© 2017 Sovereign Grace Praise/BMI (adm. by Integrity Music) Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Churches. All rights reserved.

Song Lyrics · SATB · Lead Sheet

about the author

At the time of his death in 1889, Dr. Horatius Bonar was a well-known and well-loved composer of hymns and poems, having penned more than 600 in his lifetime. In the 1907 revision of his invaluable Dictionary of Hymnology, Dr. John Julian reported that more than 100 of Bonar's hymns were in common use in both America and the UK. His writing was notable for his ability to combine a rich grasp of theology, beautiful lyricism, and emotional sensitivity in a way few of his contemporaries could match. It is so important for us to know and to understand the subject of God as the ‘Trinity’. It is crucial for us to have a right understanding of who God is, and how this affects every aspect of the life of a believer. The study and meditating on the Triune God is a lifelong pursuit, but the depth of riches that await are immeasurable. Yet today, his hymns are absent from virtually every recent hymnal.

So how did such a gifted writer go so quickly from fame to obscurity? I believe it is because most of his hymn texts were paired with sub-par melodies unable to survive the intervening century. To have staying power, a song—whether a sacred or secular composition—must have both strong lyrics and a strong melody, with the latter being arguably more influential. Songwriter Keith Getty puts it this way:

What we actually need is beautiful poetry that lifts our eyes to the God of the universe, that arrests our emotions, fascinates our minds, and sticks in our memories, and this poetry ought to be married to melodies that are so sing-able, they captivate us and all those around us—so much so that we want to sing them over and over and pass them on to our children.

Thankfully, great lyrics from the past can be resurrected through a process called retuning hymns. Bonar's hymn All Praise to Him Who Built the Hills is a great example of this, in this recent musical setting by Bob Kauflin and Matt Merker.

Hymn Study

In the words of Charles Spurgeon,

The proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the points, and the existence of the Great God whom he calls Father. (The Immutability of God)

To understand the Trinity is to understand the true nature and character of our God. To understand Him as He reveals himself to us is to understand how to worship Him rightly. Get this wrong, and we get all of Christianity wrong.

For the whole Christian life, from the outset, is lived in the light of the fact that we have been baptized ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ To be a Christian is, first and foremost, to belong to the triune God and to be named for Him…To become a Christian believer is to be brought into a reality far grander than anything we could ever have imagined. It means communion with the triune God. (Sinclair Ferguson, The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen, Pgs. 27-28)

The church at large owes a great debt to hymn writers who compose music and lyrics to help us remember and rehearse the deep truths of the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One such hymn is All Praise to Him by Matt Merker and Bob Kauflin, with original words by Horatius Bonar. This relatively obscure hymn (19 known publications since it was first published in 1859) was rewritten with a new tune and lyrics that describe the Triune nature of God and His distinct roles in the work of salvation in the life of every believer.

Verse 1: The Father
God is described as the God of light who created and reigns sovereignly over all, yet he tenderly ‘bends to hear our every prayer’. (Genesis 1:1-25; Psalm 98:7-9; Psalm 113:4-9; Isaiah 40:25-31)

Verse 2: The Son
Christ the Son, leaves His glorious throne to die for our sins – the all sufficient sacrifice. (Isaiah 53:4-6; Mark 10:45; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2)

Verse 3: The Spirit
We have been given the word of truth by the power of the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts. We rejoice in this promise. (Romans 5:3-5; Romans 15:13; Ephesians 1:3-14 ; 1 Thessalonians 1:5)

The final stanza responds with a doxology of praise to the Triune God, ‘we raise with loving hearts our song of praise’! I encourage you to meditate on these lyrics as you study and sing this hymn with your family this month.

Onward and Upward!